Warmer weather ahead...be careful out there!!!

[frank5079]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/video/suv-slams-motorcycle-stopped-red-015218293.html

About 22 years ago, I was stopped behind two cars at a traffic light; one car was on the left lane, the other was on the right lane, and I was behind the car on the right lane. From my rear view mirrors, I noticed a car approaching behind me and it didn't seem like it was slowing down. With my bike still in gear, I eased myself between the two cars, and then that car behind came to a screeching halt just a few feet from the rear bumper of the car on the right lane that I was just waiting behind. To this day, I still practice situation awareness....

 

[The Beekeeper]

Thank you for the awareness reminder!.............I have been hit from behind a couple of times now in my life, fortunantly not while on and of my bikes!.............Be aware and be safe everyone!.............unk:............Tom.

 

[VMax-Mike]

After one day ride with the hooligans i'm all dialed in. But util than i am extra careful.

 

[VMax-Mike]

After one day ride with the hooligans i'm all dialed in. But util than i am extra careful. :thumbs up:

 

[blaxmax]

Thank god for lane splitting out here. With cell phones cagers are NOT paying nearly as much attention.

 

[marsmax85]

Thanks Frank !! unk:

 

[DMAN999]

Good reminder.
I lost a friend when I was in college, he was on his bike at a stop light and a car never slowed and hit him at about 55-60 mph.

I lost another friend a few years later because a car hit him when he was making a left hand turn and the driver said he didn't see the turn signal.

So I also always watch my mirrors when stopped at a light or making a left hand turn.

 

[Itgoes]

Had a close call my self several years ago pulling into a HD dealer parking lot for a big open house.

As I was slowing to pick my line through a line of cones in the driveway apron (there to keep cars from pulling in) I heard tires screeching. Thankfully my brain processed that it must be behind me because there were no cars close to me in my forward vision. I cracked the throttle and pretty much power slided into the parking lot.

The car behind me skidded 20 feet past the point I entered. The dealership was packed with riders........and vendors, probably 50 -75 people witnessed it. Even an attorney that represents riders that had a booth there saw the whole thing.

Everybody started screaming at the guy in the car, and he took off for fear of his life.

I asked the guy that was directing bikes into the lot how close the car came to the back of my bike.......he held his hands about 6" apart! :surprise:

 

[Fire-medic]

Wow, you dodged the bullet on that one!

My high school buddy had a similar avoidance to what's been described here. Our senior year of high school, he had just bought a beautiful 1966 Chevelle SS396 SS 4-speed and was returning from getting Cragar chrome reverse mags and Firestone Wide Ovals installed, in SW MI. Waiting at a traffic light, he noticed the guy behind him was going 'way too-fast to stop, so he calmly pulled onto the shoulder ahead of the car next to him. The out-of-control driver plowed into the car which had been ahead of my friend, and pushed that car into the car in-front of him. So, three wrecked cars. My friend rode the shoulder until he could regain the tarmac, and left that mess behind, with a story to tell about avoiding having his beautiful muscle car totaled, before it was a week-old for his ownership. How long ago? The Doors were still touring, and Janis Joplin was alive.

Ugh, I see more people talking and texting, eating, putting-on makeup, and other inappropriate activities, behind the wheel, and that's the men!:rofl_200:

 

[V-Four]

... With cell phones cagers are NOT paying nearly as much attention.

This.. Big time.

Ugh, I see more people talking and texting, eating, putting-on makeup, and other inappropriate activities, behind the wheel, and that's the men!:rofl_200:

I almost spit out my coffee just now- I read that in my head as "Eating Pudding" and the visual of someone in their car texting AND eating pudding is funny as heck- in fact, I'm still cracking up as I type this.:rofl_200:



:rofl_200:

 

[Traumahawk]

It seems to come up about once a year ( a new Vmax owner) wonders about putting the bike in neutral, when they stop behind some cars at a stoplight. This is EXACTLY why you dont. Everytime I'm at a stoplight, I always look for a way out......just in case.

 

[dannymax]

Knew a biker who was taken out from behind at a red light in upstate rural NY.....cager was a Catholic Priest and on top of vehicular manslaughter charges he also got a DWI....at 7am!

Texting, talking, eating pudding....you can't be too careful out there, and remember....you're totally invisible to many (if not most) cagers!! :blink000:

 

[jfeagins]

Thanks for the reminder. IMO, that texting crap should bring with it the death penalty for anyone caught doing it whilst driving a motor vehicle.

F'ng women I work with daily arrive on the parking lot in the morning with cell phones seemingly glued to their ears, and upon leaving the lot after work, they once again seem to have those cells stuck back onto one ear or the other. WTF? I guess if it's in their ear, they ain't texting - right then, at least.

 

[frank5079]

It seems to come up about once a year ( a new Vmax owner) wonders about putting the bike in neutral, when they stop behind some cars at a stoplight. This is EXACTLY why you dont. Everytime I'm at a stoplight, I always look for a way out......just in case.

When I'm stopped behind a car at a light I always pull to the very left side, generally in line with the front car's left side so that the guy in the car can see me on his left side view mirror. This way if I need an escape route, I can ease on over between him and the guy in the left lane. Now if I am in the left lane behind a car, I pull behind to his right side, again so that I have an escape route between him and the car on the right lane...

 

[liptoss]

Things had DEFINITELY changed in my 32 years of riding.
WAY, WAY! Too many ass$%*les texting! Punks and Pukes I call them.
Upon reading a few of these stories above, I can see my mantra that I've developed is good. Beyond what many above state, riding the right or left lane etc, scanning behind you is just as important as in front and sides of you CONSTANTLY. I also follow a pattern as follows, I avoid driving my motorcycle...
...at night IF I can, and:
1) Thursday nights in areas that could be driven by Punks and Pukes that have starting the weekend early, and have begun drinking.
2) Friday nights in most areas and routes I suspect having higher than average Punks and Pukes that will be drinking and bar hopping, house hopping or town/city hopping.
I also avoid early or mid morning driving on Saturday and Sunday where Punks and Pukes are THINKING that they are ok to drive home after a hard night of drinking. You're still f*%$ing INEBRIATED you dumbass, it's been proven!
I also avoid rain riding IF I can. I get caught, fine, but never head out while it's down pouring.
Finally, I realize EVERYONE is anxious to get out and ride with the nice weather, but I'm content to let other, usually newbie, riders get out first. Hell, let them acclimatize the lemming 4 wheelers out there to the fact that motorcyclists are once again on the road for a couple of weeks while the salt/brine dust and sand clears from the roads.
I've listened to other usually newbies that know MORE than a veterans that I'm limiting my enjoyment.
I know better.
HEY! Riding and surviving has ENORMOUSLY changed over the years.

 

[Shredder]

Ive always been scared of getting rear ended on a bike sitting at a light. I always glance in my mirrors or keep quick turning and looking behind me. Never stop right on a cars ass either incase you gotta get out from behind them real quick.

 

[blaxmax]

61 year old man died here yesterday and the motorcycle was upright right in the center of the hood. A "V" about 2 feet straight back down the hood. I have never seen anything like that bike standing straight up before. No breaks or blackmarks and probably never seen it coming. I can only imagine the driver was texting.

http://www.kmir.com/story/31548926/thermal-man-killed-in-motorcycle-crash-on-highway-86

 

[Itgoes]

61 year old man died here yesterday and the motorcycle was upright right in the center of the hood. A "V" about 2 feet straight back down the hood. I have never seen anything like that bike standing straight up before. No breaks or blackmarks and probably never seen it coming. I can only imagine the driver was texting.

http://www.kmir.com/story/31548926/thermal-man-killed-in-motorcycle-crash-on-highway-86

No other way to explain that........should be a homicide charge IMO.

R.I.P.

 

[blaxmax]

If they can pinpoint the time you were on the phone I would say assault with a deadly weapon, negligence and manslaughter.

 

[dannymax]

"drug and/or alcohol impairment does appear........"

I'd say he's probly going down for this! As he damn well should!